Recent Games Round-up Part 3

Liverpool 2-3 Udinese

After finally securing their first league win of the season with the 5-2 thrashing of Norwich, Liverpool’s attentions shifted to the Europa League and the visit of Italian side Udinese.

Jonjo Shelvey was making his first appearance since his sending off against Manchester United, and it took him 23 minutes to make his mark as he headed in a floated cross from the much-maligned Stewart Downing – who was also making a rare start. The lead stayed with Liverpool until half time with Udinese posing little attacking threat and little evidence that they would be able to get back into the game.

However, at half time Udinese legend Antonio Di Natale sprang to life and equalized seconds after the restart with a lovely side footed finish into the top corner. The Italian international was not done there as he curled in a dangerous free kick which the otherwise excellent Sebastian Coates could only head passed Pepe Reina and into the Liverpool net for an own goal. Di Natale was again involved two minutes later as he took in long ball with a sumptuous touch, before laying the ball off to Giovanni Pasquale to smash in his sides’ third goal of the game.

Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez had been introduced to the game minutes before the own goal by Coates, and it was the latter who cut the deficit with a brilliant free kick from the edge of the area.

That was where the comeback ended though, as Liverpool poured forward and created chance after chance but could not find an equalizer. It was a sobering day for Liverpool after the performance against Norwich and the first half showing against the Italian outfit, but in any European competition slackness will be punished as the Reds found out.

Liverpool 0-0 Stoke

Liverpool took on Stoke before the international break hoping to add to their first league win of the season against Norwich. Within five minutes a major talking point had already arisen, with Suarez going to ground and Stoke defender Robert Huth clearly stamping on the Uruguayans chest. The referee gave no free kick let alone a red card to Huth, despite Suarez showing the referee the stud marks on his chest.

Liverpool later discovered that no retrospective action could be taken against Huth as the referee saw the incident at the time and decided not to award a free kick or produce a red card. One has to question both the FA and the referee in this instance, as player safety is becoming an issue when players are allowed to stamp on others without punishment.

Otherwise the game was relatively uneventful with the Reds failing to carve out many clear cut chances to break down an always stubborn Stoke defense who as usual arrived at Anfield ready to park the bus. The media decided to largely ignore the stamping incident and instead focused on an instance when Suarez went to ground too easily in the area midway through the second half, with the referee correctly ignoring his appeals for a penalty.

After the game Stoke manager Tony Pulis spoke about a need to ban players who dived such as Suarez before quickly ducking out of the press room before he could answer any questions regarding his own players stamp on the same player.

Liverpool 1-0 Reading

Reading paid a visit to Anfield with the Reds still looking for their first home league win of a stuttering campaign. It was a game Liverpool were fully expected to win as Reading have severely struggled to keep with the pace of the Premier League after their promotion from the Championship.

Liverpool dominated the first half with Glen Johnson and Raheem Sterling combining well down the left hand side on many occasions but could not score the opening goal. Eventually it was Suarez who played the ball through for Sterling who took one touch before rifling the ball passed the Reading goalkeeper for the 17-year-olds first ever senior goal for Liverpool.

Suarez should have scored a number of times but failed to hit the target when a more clinical striker would. As the game wore on, Reading were given more and more encouragement by the Reds failure to snatch a second goal. Gareth McCleary and Jobi McAnuff both tested stand-in keeper Brad Jones who performed admirably to deny Reading time and time again.

In the end the Reds came out 1-0 winners in a game that they really should have won by more, but Liverpool fans won’t be complaining as long as they grab the three points.